SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHAT SHALL BE TAUGHT IN ARITHMETIC.

1. Fundamental operations-four or five, according to your Numbers used to be within the comprehension of pupils. First, correctness, then rapidity in work. Use of federal money included in the foregoing.

2. Measurements-lines, surfaces, solids. In measurement of surfaces platting to a scale. (Actual measurements by the children.)

3. Denominate tables, such as are in common use, and relative value of units. Tables learned by actual measurement so far as practicable. Addition, subtraction, etc., of denomi nate numbers, obsolete.

4.

Fractions-that occur in the world. Keep the fractions within the range of the multiplication table, or such numbers as the children can manage mentally. The changes in fractions should be thought out, not brought about by mechanical process. Nine-tenths of the work in fractions should be mental-yes, nineteen-twentieths.

Discard all super

5. Decimal fractions and percentage. fluous terms. Omit three-fourths of the separate topics in percentage, but thoroughly teach the principles.

6. Squares and square root. Cubes and cube root-the latter only with numbers such that the cube root may be thought out easily, as 8, 27, 64, 125.

7. Mensuration-limited extent.

The comparison of numbers and the thorough understanding of ratio and the use of the term should begin with second grade work and extend through the entire course.

Establish certain principles and then stick by them. As (a) like numbers only can be united-added. (b) A product must be like the multiplicand. (c) A dividend must be greater than its divisor, etc.

If you do not receive your JOURNAL by the 15th of the month write at once and ask to have it remailed. Occasionally a teacher will wait two or three months before writing. This delay is generally inexcusable, and results in loss to the teacher and usually unnecessary trouble to the publisher.

WHEN you send "back" pay for the Journal please name the agent with whom you subscribed.

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THE SCHOOL ROOM.

Conducted by GEORGE F. BASS, Editor of The Young People.

LETTER WRITING.

Almost everyone, some time in life, will need to write one or more letters. Nothing so quickly and accurately tells character as does a letter. One who can write bright and entertaining letters is a valuable person to his friends and others who may have the privilege of reading his letters. He helps to lift them on to a higher plane of life. He who can write good business letters is a very important person in any busi

ness.

All this makes this a very important and "practical" subject, even when measured by the commercial standard of practical. Yet it is said that there are very few people who can write good letters. Some say that it is a much neglected subject. We cannot believe this, for there is scarcely a school of any standing that does not announce in its course of study "letter writing." Knowing how careful teachers are to try to carry out what the course of study calls for, we must say that the subject is not neglected. We shall need to look for the cause of the lack of ability to write letters in some other region than that of neglect.

It seems to us that the great trouble is the pupils are compelled to write before they have anything to say or any worthy reason for saying it. They write for the teacher. She has asked them to write not less than four pages. We heard a pupil say, once, that he was going to write as large a hand as he could, because it would fill the page sooner, and he would the sooner fulfil the requirements of his teacher. A false purpose had been set for him, viz., to fill four pages. Who, in actual life, ever set such a purpose for writing a letter? Many of us have "wondered" what to say to accomplish what we wished. I might wish my friend to visit me during vacation. I say, I'll write to him and invite him to come. Then I begin to think what I can say to influence him to come. I must make my home as attractive to him as possible. I must know him, or I shall not know what to say. I happen to know that he is very fond of fishing, swimming and rowing. I tell him of the beautiful lakes full of fish near my home. I know he

needs rest. I tell him how quiet my home is, how he will not be bothered with the noise and bustle of business in his city. He needs an exhilarating atmosphere. My home has the advantage of mountains, as well as lakes. So I write him, always holding my purpose in mind, as well as the condition of the recipient of my letter, and always considering what will arouse his will.

Since we must do this, why not let the pupil see that he must do the same? If my purpose had been simply to describe my home, so that he might see it as it is, my letter would have been different, or if I had described it in its becoming what it now is, my letter would have been different from the others, or if I had tried to prove to him that it is a more healthful place than the city, it would have been still different. But in all, my purpose and my friend's conditions, and the means by which I could reach him, would have been constantly in mind.

Now, since these are the mental steps that must be taken in constructing a letter, it is the business of the teacher to see that the proper conditions are supplied to cause the pupils to take such steps. As we see it, this should be done first, and, of course, there is no writing in it. It is a thinking process. The next thing to do is to put these points into language form. This part is not neglected; the other, we think, is. Everybody teaches the parts of a letter-the heading, address, salutation, body, conclusion, superscription, etc., the folding, sealing, stamping, etc., but all do not teach the thought back of each form. The forms are taught as arbitrary forms. How many pupils know when to use a comma, and when to use a colon and a dash after the name of the person addressed in opening a letter? Do they know whether to close with "Yours respectfully," "Yours truly," "Yours sincerely" or "Yours fraternally"? There is too little stress placed on what to say and why we are to say it. We hope to be able to follow this with a discussion of sets of specific conditions under which pupils might be asked to write letters.

"KEEPING IN."

We thought that this very bad habit was obsolete, but within the last few weeks we have heard of pupils being kept after school to "make up" what they had "missed" during the day.

We said that this is a bad habit. We meant it. What are its effects? It emphasizes the point that pupils must get their lessons in order to say them. Since they get them for this purpose, the only lasting effect on the pupil is that his power to get the words is strengthened, while his power to get thought is weakened. He also forms the bad habit of forgetting a thing as soon as he has said it. So, this keeping in does not have even the sanction of those who would "strengthen the memory." It has a bad effect on the teacher, who is already tired enough, and who needs the rest, that she may do a good day's work to-morrow.

Occasionally we hear of a school that is doing excellent work. Many teachers visit this school and have much to say in its praise. "But how does she get such results!" exclaims one. "Oh," says another, "she keeps them in and makes them learn." We have always thought that the "splendid results” were not the effect of "keeping in," but of good teaching. It is barely possible that they were kept in and treated to some good teaching. We must insist that the satisfactory results came not from the "keeping in," but in spite of it. The poorest teachers we ever saw "kept in" the most frequently. This shows that the mere "keeping in" cannot produce good results. It is said that the United States chews more wax than any other nation in the world. It surpasses many other nations in many other things. Now, are we to infer that chewing wax is the cause of its greatness?

"MENTAL ARITHMETIC."

Arithmetic is all mental. But the so-called old-fashion mental arithmetic had many good points, with some drawbacks. Why not retain the good points? The best teachers do. It is such a simple thing to do that it seems strange that anyone should fail to do it. Why should a slate and a pencil be used by a seventh-grade pupil in order to find the cost of a barrel of flour at 3 cents a pound? He can see that three times six are eighteen, and that three times nineteen tens are fiftyseven tens; eighteen, or one ten and eight units, added to this is five hundred eighty-eight. A little practice of this sort will enable the pupil to "think" the answer just as accurately and

much more rapidly than by writing the whole solution. Why should he use the long division form to find what a barrel of flour costs when 49 pounds cost $1.47? Just a little thinking will enable him to see that 49 pounds is just one-fourth of a barrel. So a barrel will cost four times $1.47. He thinks and works without pencil: "Four times fourteen tens are fifty-six tens; four times seven are twenty-eight; fifty-six tens plus two tens and eight units are fifty-eight tens and eight units. A barrel costs $5.88." These suggest only one of the good points in "mental arithmetic," but when this one is carried out to its legitimate end (mind, not bitter end), it will cover a multitude of cases that, as often disposed of, are sins.

EXERCISES.

1. A room is 18 feet long and 15 feet wide. How many yards of carpeting a yard wide will it take to cover it? (How easy! Yet how hard some pupils are allowed to make it!)

2. This room is 12 feet high; how many square yards of plastering in one end wall? I wish to paint the ceiling; how much will it cost at 12 1-2 cents a square yard?

3. If fourteen horses cost $1,680, what does one cost? (No "long division.") See how easy this is! Fourteen into sixteen, once and two over; fourteen into twenty-eight, two times. He has seen the answer long before this. Let him give it.

4. Paid $82.50 for 75 yards of carpet. What was this a yard? Looks difficult, but it is not. Look again; 82 is how much more than 75? Seven. Now look and think a little. The pupil's face brightens; he has the answer. He has not guessed it, either. He has thought correctly. "But he should learn to express his thinking," says one. True. We are not objecting to this. We wish him to do some sharp, quick, accurate thinking first. How this does sharpen the arithmetic appetite!

5. I had 75 1-2 acres of land and sold 50 per cent. of it; how many acres did I sell? "Oh, one-half of it," says the pupil. Yes, but how many acres? He now proceeds to reduce 75 1-2 to halves! "Tut, tut, tut," says the teacher. The pupil looks surprised. But the teacher asks what the half of 75 is, and the pupil answers promptly 37 1-2. "Well," says the teacher,